What is the Double Empathy Problem and what does it have to do with Autism?
When two people communicate, at times there can be a communication breakdown caused by both parties’ difficulty in understanding where the other is coming from.
This can be particularly prevalent between Autistic and Neurotypical people. For instance, a neurotypical person may perceive an autistic person’s blunt and direct communication as being rude, condescending or feel used by them. On the other hand, an autistic person may find neurotypical communication (which might be ‘softer’) as being indirect, insincere, fake and confusing.
A number of studies show that when autistic people have to pass a message down a line of 8 people (all autistic) they can maintain the reliability of the message just as non-autistic people can do down their line of 8 people. However, only when the groups mix does the message get degraded.
This may suggest that rather than autistic people having a deficit in communication skills, there is a difference in communication. This is similar to going somewhere with a difference culture for a holiday; neither person’s culture is ‘right’, it’s just two different cultures.
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